Just Believe
by GabbyTiva4ever
Summary: My take on what should've happened in the finale. Tag 13x24 Family First
I do not own anything except this story. I am still mad about last night's episode. Ziva David cannot be dead. They didn't have a body and no evidence. This is my take on what should've happened.

It felt like a dream. It couldn't be true. _Ziva David was dead._ She was a ninja and from Mossad. She would've gotten out before the farmhouse blow up. Now here Tony was, he was standing in Vance's office with him, Gibbs, and Orli.

"It's good to see you Tony despite the sad circumstance."

"Tell me you got who did this?"

Orli looks at him

"First let me say how very sorry I am."

"You should be in Israel searching. Not telling me how sorry you are."

Tony looked at her coldly. He knew how Mossad worked. They could hold back information and lie about certain things.

"Actually I am here for a much more important reason."

They look at her.

"Something far more personal."

Olri looks at the man by the door

"Bring in Tali.."

The man nods and opens the door. Vance looks at her.

"Wasn't that Ziva's sister?"

"For name sake, yes."

Tony looks at her still.

"Whose name sake?"

"You may have heard there was one survivor pulled from the farmhouse. Her room was in a corridor not destroyed by the fire."

The door opens and a women walks in with a little girl. She was wearing a black and white summer dress that stopped above her knees. She had Ziva's hair and she had Tony's hazel eyes. Tony turned around to looks at her.

"Tali is Ziva's daughter.. and your daughter Tony."

Tony looks back at Orli then he looks back at the little girl. He was in complete shock. Now him, Orli, and his daughter was in a meeting room. Tali was in the stroller sleeping while him and Orli talked.

"Poor Tali. She cried throughout the flight."

Tony looked at Tali the whole time and then looked at Orli.

"Does she even know? Does she understand."

Olri sat down and looked at him

"All she knows is that her mother has gone away."

Tony put his hands on his face covering his eyes. Last night, he found out Ziva was dead and now 24 hours later, he finds out that he's a father. That's a lot for a person to handle.

"Ziva assured me you were the only biological possibly in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't but if she had any doubts that would explain why she didn't.. tell me."

"No doubts. Yes she's the imagine of her mother but the eyes are all you Tony."

They both looked at Tali as she slept in the stroller. Then Orli looked at him.

"If I had known she was pregnant.. I would've been there in a second."

"Which is priestly why she didn't tell you. She didn't want to disrupt your life any more than she already had."

"That was not her decision to make."

"You know better than anyone how fiercely and independent Ziva was. She did not need a man to complete her. She was quite comfortable raising Tali on her own."

Tony nodded slightly listening to her.

"Without never telling me"

"Actually she came to regret that decision as Tali grew but she struggled without breaking the news. She didn't.. she knew you wouldn't be pleased."

Tony shook his head slowly

"Then she never knew me at all."

Tony and Tali were at his apartment and she was rumbling about something he couldn't figure out. He then reached down into her to go bag, he pulled out her stuffed doggy. When she pointed at it, he knew that's what she meant and he gave it to her. When he looked down again, he reached down and pulled out a scarf, Ziva's scarf. Lifting it to his nose, he smelt it and it smelled just like her. Shea butter and whatever soap she used.

That same day, Tony and his father, Senior were playing pretend tea with Tali when Senior accidentally split some water on the floor.

"Junior, hand me a wipe out of the bag."

Tony reaches into the to go bag and gets a wipe out then hands it to his father. Then he reaches into the bag again to see a framed photo. Pulling it out, he looks at it. It was a framed photo of him and Ziva on the scooter in Paris.

"What's this?"

He shows it to his father and he looks back at him.

"Oh uh I found that stuffed on the side of her bag. I figured you seen it before."

Tali sees the framed photo and points to Ziva in the photo.

"Ima."

Tony looks at her

"Yeah that's right Tali."

"Ima."

Senior looks at Tony

"What does that mean? Ima."

"Hebrew. It means mother; mom."

Tali then points to Tony in the framed photo

"Aba."

Tony looks at her still.

"Tali, what did you say?"

She then pointed to Ziva and then Tony calling them Ima and Aba.

"Aba?"

Senior looks at him

"Daddy."

"Ziva must've told her. She knows me. That's right Tali. You wanna see something. You're gonna like this"

Tony reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out his phone then he pulls out a necklace. Ziva's necklace.

"Oh yeah. This was Ima's."

He lets her have the necklace and she looks at it.

"Ima's?"

"Ima's yeah. This belonged to Ima and now it's Tali's."

He then puts the necklace on her and his hands were trembling slightly.

Tony was about to put the photo away when he felt something sticking under the board holding the photo in place. He turned it over and took the board out. There, was a note on the back of it. He took it out and unfolded it.

Note: Bet mah lohn (Hotel) in Paris. – Sweetcheeks

His eyes widening and he was pretty sure his heart stopped. When McGee and Abby came to his apartment to tell him Ziva was dead, he couldn't and wouldn't believe it. She's a ninja and from Mossed for god's sake! She would've heard the terrorist coming or escaped before they got to the farmhouse. There was no way in hell she would be caught in a bomb fire.

"Oh my god.."

Senior looked at him and raised a brow. He saw the note in his sons hand but didn't see what was on it. He could see the look on his sons face that something was up.

"What is it?"

Tony quickly called the airlines and got the quickest flight out to Paris. The plane leaves in two hours. He now knew what his life plan was. To go home and be with Ziva.

"Dad, I gotta go. She's alive.."

He shows his father the note and his father looks at him.

"Go get her son."

"I am.."

Tony got up from the couch and went into his room to get his bags. They were still packed from two days ago when he was going to go to Israel to find answers. He then carried all of his bags to the door and made sure Tali had her things in her to go bag.

 _Count to a million. I'm on my way._ Tony thought as he remembered their chat on the computer when he had to go find her the second time.

They arrived at the airport in record time. Tony got his and Tali's ticket and passport then they got on the plane. It took 7 hours and 25 minutes to get to Paris. So, Tony tried to entertain Tali for the long plane ride. Within 4 hours of the plane ride, she was asleep. Tony watched her as she slept. She looked so much like her mother. He hadn't gotten maybe 3 hours of sleep since they told him that she was dead. He has barely ate anything. He could never sleep or eat until he finds her. He found her the first two times. He could sure as hell find her a million times if he had too.

Many hour later, they arrive in Paris at 4 am. They got a room at a hotel and Tali was sound asleep so Tony decided to get some sleep too. He fell asleep cuddling his daughter with her stuffed doggy.

Tony woke up to Tali gently patting his cheeks

"Aba.."

Tony looks at her softly and yawns

"Yes.."

"Where's Ima?"

Tony sat up and looked around. He remembers he was in Paris for a reason and one reason only. Ziva. He got up and picked Tali up.

"I don't know. Let's go find out."

They walked around the hotel and then.. they were by a door and it opened.

"Ima!"

Ziva was in the hotel room hoping and praying Tali got to Tony safely. Would he be mad that she kept Tali a secret from him? What was his reaction when he found out he was a father? She hated having to kept Tali in hiding any longer. That's why she sent her to Orli and told her to take her to Tony in DC where she would be safe. This whole thing was about her family. Everybody in her family was dead and she had made a family in NCIS. She wanted to join the team to settle down, to make a home for herself.

Ever since she had Tali, she had made sure she knew who her father was. She wasn't trying to hide him from her. Every day, she would show Tali photos of her and Tony. She would also tell her fond memories she had shared with him.

"Tali!?" a voice said from behind them as Tony kept walking.

Tony stopped short at the end of the hall and his eyes widen.

"Ziva!?"

Tali started to squeal and squirm in Tony's arms. Tony slowly put Tali down and she ran like the wind into her mother's arms. She hasn't seen her mother for 3 days or so. It's been a long road for her. Tony slowly turned around and there, kneeling down was Ziva throwing her arms around their daughter.

Ziva looks up as she hugged her daughter for dear life. She had missed her so much. She's never been away from her daughter.

"Tony.."

She lifted her daughter up into her arms and looked at him. Tears in her eyes now, she spoke.

"I'm so sorry.."

Tony walked slowly up to them and looked at her in the eyes. He shook his head slightly.

"Don't say you're sorry. You just.. did what you had to do."

Tony reached out and put his hand into her hair. Something he had found out she liked to make her smile. He looked into her eyes and then he gave her a big kiss and poured everything into it. Every emotion and every feeling into it. He put his heart and soul into it as well.

"I found you, and I always will my love.."

The End


End file.
